Teachers announce strike date over pay and conditions

Alan Jones

Teachers in England are to stage a one-day strike over pay and conditions.

Members of the National Union of Teachers (NUT) will walk out on July 5 after voting by more than 9-1 in favour of industrial action.

The union said its demands were to increase funding to schools and education, guarantee terms and conditions in all types of schools, and to resume negotiations on teacher contracts to allow workload to be addressed.

Kevin Courtney, acting general secretary of the NUT, said: "The NUT is not taking action lightly.

"In light of the huge funding cuts to schools, worsening terms and conditions, and unmanageable and exhausting workloads, teachers cannot be expected to go on without significant change.

"The effects on children's education are also real and damaging.

"As a result of school funding cuts, class sizes in primary and secondary schools are increasing, subject choices are being cut, and children are getting less individual attention as teachers and support staff are made redundant or not replaced when they leave.

"There is worse to come, with the Institute of Fiscal Studies predicting that the biggest real-terms cuts to per-pupil funding in a generation are on the way."